On 25 June, Arman Babajanyan, member of the “Bright Armenia” faction National Assembly prior to voting for the “Draft Law of the Republic of Armenia on Amendments and Addenda to the Law on Corruption Prevention Commission” read the statement of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia, in which the Coalition condemned the proposed amendments.
The Speaker of the National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan responded to the statement read by Arman Babajanyan. “In relation to your statement, it is natural for the organization you mentioned, because according to the operating unchanged mechanism a competitive commission should be formed and here that NGO has the right to nominate a candidate as well, and the daughter of that NGO’s president is presented there. Everything is often very commonplace,” Ararat Mirzoyan said.
However, by making that statement, the NA President makes some gross mistakes.
- No NGO has the right to nominate a candidate for the Corruption Prevention Commission
According to Article 11 of the Law on Corruption Prevention Commission, the President of the National Assembly shall form a Competition Council for the election of candidates for the member of the Commission. The Council shall consist of members designated by the President of the Constitutional Court, the Human Rights Defender, and the oppositional factions of the National Assembly, the Public Council and the President of the Chamber of Advocates – one member designated by each. The oppositional factions of the National Assembly appoint member of the council based on the consensus.
The President of the National Assembly shall apply to the President of the Constitutional Court, the Ombudsman, the National Assembly opposition factions, the Public Council and the Chamber of Advocates for nominating one candidate each to be included in the Council. The Public Council nominates a candidate from the civil society representatives.
It is clear that the rapporteur, referring to this NGO, implied the Armenian Lawyers’ Association NGO, a member of the Governing Board of CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia, which, according to the above law, could not nominate a candidate to the Competition Council, since the law does not entitle the association to such a right.
Fact 1. The NA President has applied for simple manipulation and misinformation from high tribune of the NA, since the “Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO has not had the right to nominate a candidate for a member of the Competition Council for the election of a member of the Corruption Prevention Commission.
- “The daughter of that NGO’s President” has been nominated as member of the Competition Council by the Chamber of Advocates
The daughter of the President of the “Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO, Member of the Governing Board of CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia, who had been nominated by the Chamber of Advocates, is advocate Mariam Zadoyan, Member of the Chamber of Advocates of the RA.
It should be noted that from these five structures that had the right to nominate a candidate to the member of the Competition Council for the election of a member to the Corruption Prevention Commission, the Chamber of Advocates was the only structure that made the election of the candidate on a competitive basis.
On 21 May, 2018, the Chamber of Advocates announced, the competition. From the 8 candidates who applied for the competition, 6 candidates came to the interview.
The working group of interviewers (Emil Amirkhanyan, Mane Karapetyan and Tsovinar Khachatryan) summed up the results of the interview; elect advocate Mariam Zadoyan as a candidate for a member of the Competition Council and submitted to the approval of the President of the RA Chamber of Advocates.
By the Decision 224-A of 29.05.2018 of the President of the Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Armenia Ara Zohrabyan, advocate Mariam Zadoyan (License No. 1901) has been appointed member of the Competition Council for the selection of candidates for the position of a member of the Corruption Prevention Commission.
Fact 2. The NA President has applied for simple manipulation and misinformation from high tribune of the NA, since Mariam Zadoyan has not been nominated as a member of the Competition Council formed for the election of a member of the Corruption Prevention Commission by the “Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO.
- What is the relationship between the RA Chamber of Advocates and the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia?
In response to Iravaban.net’shttp://iravaban.net/en/ request, the Chamber of Advocates replied that the candidates of the competition conducted by the Chamber should have complied with requirements:
- Candidate must be a lawyer (an advocate who has been subjected to disciplinary liability within the last year and the penalty is not exhausted cannot participate in the competition);
- The candidate must have at least one year of professional experience in anti-corruption area (conducted defense in the case related to the framework of corruption crimes, scientific research on corruption-related issues, participation in anti-corruption programs, etc.).
These requirements and criteria have been drawn up based on the requirements of the RA Law “On Corruption Prevention Commission” and the need for proper formulation and effective functioning of the Corruption Prevention Commission.
Particularly, the Chamber’s candidate should be a lawyer as this requirement stems from the meaning of the provisions of Article 11 of the Law on Corruption Prevention Commission”, which, in turn, making the Chamber a member of the process of formation of the Corruption Prevention Commission aims to provide the involvement of the advocacy institute as one of the most important civil society institutes in the process of the fight against corruption.
At the same time, taking into consideration the great public significance of anti-corruption fight and the particular role of individual professional and moral qualities of the members of the mentioned committee, which is an important institutional component of that struggle in the development and implementation of anti-corruption public policy, the Chamber excluded the participation in the electoral body of a lawyer that has been subjected to disciplinary liability within the last year and the penalty is not extinguished..
The Chamber has provided requirement of at least one year of professional experience in the field of anti-corruption as well.
Interviews with candidates were organized, where each of the advocates presented their experiences in the field of anti-corruption.
The competition working team assessed the knowledge of the candidates, the knowledge of the anti-corruption sphere, the personal-psychological attitude and vision of corruption and the struggle against it, as well as the professional experience of the candidate in the field, and the questions addressed to the candidates were aimed at revealing these circumstances.
The Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Armenia during the selection of the candidate was guided by the criteria of the professional experience in anti-corruption area (conducted defense in the case related to the framework of corruption crimes, scientific research on corruption-related issues, participation in anti-corruption programs, etc.)
Fact 3. The RA Chamber of Advocates is not a member of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia and not any legal relationship exists between the Coalition and the Chamber of Advocates.
PS When there are no arguments, there is always a fertile land for cheap manipulations and misinformation.
